Old Glory at the Triangle.

This Saturday the Triangle Tavern is hosting the Old Glory Molly dancers and musicians! Molly dancing is an East Suffolk tradition that started in Edwardian times.
Join us for a night of traditional Molly dancing and music accompanied with a fire, beer and food! 
Make sure you arrive early as the dancers start 8pm sharp!

By the look of it, the dancers will be outside, which is a Good Thing, as the front bar is quite small, and it's a long time since it's had to bear the weight of light-footed dancers...

"Old Glory was formed in 1994 to recreate the tradition of Molly dancing in East Suffolk, as we imagine it might have been in Edwardian times. Molly dancing traditionally only appeared during the depths of winter as a means of earning some money when the land was frozen or waterlogged and could not be worked. It is sometimes regarded as the East Anglian form of Morris. Traditional molly dance teams always included at least one man dressed in women’s clothing as a form of disguise; sometimes the whole team did so.  In times of civil unrest, it was thought that a man so dressed would escape arrest, since it was considered that women could not be held responsible for their actions.  The term 'molly' is an old word that refers to a man dressed in women’s clothing.  In eighteenth century England, there were 'molly houses' which were meeting places for men of a certain inclination, some of whom would wear female attire.  Old Glory's molly appears as the 'Lady' and is accompanied by an appropriately dressed 'Lord'. These two characters, parodying the local gentry, lead the dances. There are other characters in Old Glory, such as the “umbrella-man”, who acts as announcer, a “box-man” carrying a collecting box, the “broom-man”, who clears the way for the dancers, and the “whiffler”, whose job it is to marshal the dancers." 

taken fromwww.old-glory.org.uk

Photo of Old Glory at the Rumburgh Buck copyright Colin Littlewood